Hey all,

First and foremost, I'm running Finale 2014.5, VDL 2.5.5, 13"; MacBook pro with El Capitan, and Kontakt 5. The first problem I'm having has started since upgrading to 2014.5. In the screenshot below, you can see I don't have the VDL mapping option that I did with the previous version. The Write Score templates have been copied into the correct folder in the newest version of Finale.

Second, is the display on non-battery instruments. Additional screenshots are below. Since there are no maps for marimba, vibes, etc, how do I get pitches to display correctly? All sounds are accurate, but looks wrong. 1 - supposed to be bass and gong in the glock staff, but in a different layer. 2 - cymbal roll on marimba. 3 - ride cymbal followed by a roll in rack combo A.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Taylor

Hi Taylor!

Just to verify, could you describe the exact location the template XML files are located?

On your second question, you have a few options to play non-pitched percussion instruments on a pitched staff.

1. You can do an instrument change. To get the correct notation, you can select the changed instrument in the ScoreManager by selecting the instrument, clicking the arrow, and locating the instrument you have change to. At that point, you can select the desired percussion map on the far right and duplicate that choice in the notation style window below. You need to make sure it is on percussion and then click settings and select the same map you selected above.

2. For cymbals, you could do one of two things, you can leave the notes ";as is"; and simply do a staff style change. Select the cymbal note and then change the style to rhythmic notation. I like to do this if I know the mallet player will only be doing a crash or cymbal roll. It is slightly easier than having to do an instrument change. However, you could just do the same as step 1 above and change the instrument to one of the cymbal samples/maps.

If you are doing a lot of switching to aux. percussion parts in the mallets, I think the change instrument method would be easier.   

Luke,

Templates are in Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale 2014.5/Music Files/Templates

I'll give those couple suggestions for cymbals a try.

Thank you!

Taylor,

What is the exact location for the VDL XML files? These are the files that should display when you go to the Percussion MIDI Map column in Score Manager.

Luke's suggestions for handling cymbals are good. I would not suggest using Layers for any non-pitched percussion. The Percussion MIDI Maps and Layouts are set for the staff and can't be set for individual Layers.

I think you may have some files in the wrong locations. Here is what the Write Score recommends: 

FIN14_VDL255_Percussion Library.lib to ";common"; Libraries folder
(";common";/MakeMusic/Finale 2014/ Libraries).
Mac: /Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale 2014/Libraries

FIN14_VDL MIDI Device XML Files to  ";common"; MIDI Device Annotation folder (";common";/ MakeMusic/Finale 2014/MIDI Device Annotation).
Mac: /Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale 2014/MIDI Device Annotation

This step should include 6 .xml files.

Hey guys. Sorry for not responding for so long. Life happens, unfortunately. I just copied all the files to the folders Luke suggested. I'll let you know if everything works. Thanks so much!